Dr Spencer Pitfield, is the National Voluntary Director of the Conservative Policy Forum (CPF), a national group chaired by Oliver Letwin MP that gives its members the opportunity to discuss the major policy challenges facing Britain today. Follow Spencer on Twitter.

Another
month, another challenging topic for the CPF. As if a by-election weren’t
enough to be getting on with, we are asking Members their views on Further and Higher
Education and all of the big questions are in there: Is the current
percentage of young people going to university correct? What is the right
balance between state and student payment for university education? How should
we seek to promote social mobility in university intakes?

But
it isn’t just the controversial stuff that we are interested in hearing about.
We know that Members care deeply about the quality of other routes to qualification,
so we want to know how the Party could make qualifications in Further Education
easier to understand – for young people leaving school, their teachers and
their parents, as well as employers. And we’re asking for suggestions about
using technology in all types of education over the next few decades. Lots of
important topics to mull over whilst you are out delivering that next batch of
leaflets...

There
has been a lot of talk in the papers recently about the value of local
campaigning and we all know that this is more complex than simply living in an
area – Maria Hutchings is a strong candidate for Eastleigh not just because of
her postcode but because she has put in the time talking to people about issues
both local and national. The CPF can help to facilitate those conversations and
is a great way for candidates (aspiring or selected) to boost their credentials
and deepen their understanding. That is why we are working with the campaigns
team to roll out CPF Groups to all of the 40/40 campaign as soon as possible.
Can you help us?